Overview
- The Health Department removed universal recommendations for influenza, hepatitis A and B, meningococcal, and rotavirus vaccines, limiting them to children deemed at particular risk.
- Officials said the new schedule aligns with international practice, while prior guidance had already dropped COVID-19 shots from universal pediatric recommendations.
- The change reduces the number of vaccines universally recommended for U.S. children to 11 from 17, according to updated accounts from U.S. media.
- President Donald Trump had asked for a policy review and later called the new timetable “more reasonable,” saying parents can still choose the full slate of shots with insurance coverage.
- Infectious-disease specialists criticized the move as insufficiently evidence-based, citing risks of lower coverage and disease resurgence, and noted it follows agency shake-ups, a reversal on newborn hepatitis B guidance, and an ongoing FDA probe into possible COVID-19 vaccine–linked deaths.